*POP* goes the finger!

Everyone sing along...to the tune of "Pop goes the Weasel"...

Mom & Si are doing laundry
Puttin' the clothes through the ringer
Si's gets her hand caught in the roller
*POP* goes the finger!

Oh yes...the song almost captures the grossness! Gee...so many blogs about my daughter's accidents.

So, in order to do laundry, we have a really old washer. We have to fill it up (15 minutes), put in some soap and swish it around to mix it, then put in the clothes. It agitates for a few minutes, and we drain it (move clothes out of way to drain better)...then we re-fill it for the rinse cycle...repeat this process about 3 times to get a good rinse. Finally, drain water, and turn on ringer - put clothes through ringer and then hang on clothes line.

One thing we've learned is how to be weather people...it's a real bummer when you start your laundry (the washing takes at least 4 hours per load...and this is if you're on "top" of it the whole time) and then it starts getting overcast and rainy! It's happened. One night the laundry was out and we had to run up to the roof to pull it down at 10:30 at night when a storm started. So, we've had to learn how to predict weather patterns, which is interesting.

Well, getting back to the subject of this post...we were in the process of putting the clothes through the ringer and Sierra was pushing the clothes through and I was getting them out of the washer and handing them to her when all of a sudden I heard a scream...I freaked and hit the big red button that releases the ringer (hey...it's a safety feature!). Her pinky finger and knuckle looked a little funny and she couldn't bend it. I was worried she'd broken her finger.

I went next door to Blanca's house and asked her to look at it and to see if she thought it was broken and I needed to take her to a doctor. She thought maybe it was sprained. I asked her where to go and she came with me to show me.

We drove about 15 minutes to the outskirts of town and pulled into a rundown neighborhood - Blanca asked where some guy was and we went to his house, but he wasn't there. We were told to come back after 3 pm - about another hour.

We go to work at the orphanage at 4 pm, so we went back to the house and I gave Sierra some ice for her hand and we waited a little while. At about 3, Sierra and I headed back over to this guys house. We got there and knocked on the door and some really, really old guy came out looking a little scruffy. I asked if he was the doctor and he said yes and invited us into his front room where there was a curtain pulled across the side of the room. He pulled the curtain back to reveal an old cot with a blanket. I was not inspired with confidence! I wondered if this was one of those back-country "healers" you hear about! I told him what had happened and he felt around Sierra's finger and hand a bit, and then suddenly *POP*...he put her knuckle back in place. Apparently she had dislocated knuckle. He said she would be sore for a few days or so, but would be fine. I asked how much we owed him and he said whatever we wanted, so I gave him $40 pesos and we were on our way!

We went to the orphanage for our English class, and then to the pharmacy to get one of those finger braces for her. It's been a few days and she is still a little sore, but can bend her hand pretty well. We've been singing our own little version of "Pop goes the Weasel" ever since!